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Frank Lampard
'''Frank James Lampard (Born 20 June 1978) is an English attacking midfielder who played for Chelsea F.C. from 2001 to 2014. Lampard signed for Chelsea from West Ham United for a fee of £11,000,000 in 2001, and made 648 appearances and become the top scorer in the club's history with 211 goals. Chelsea career After his uncle; Harry Redknapp was sacked at Upton Park, the Irons accepted a £11,000,000 bid for young Lampard, from Chelsea. An early sign of what was to come was his commanding display against Arsenal's Patrick Vieira in an FA Cup Final defeat at the end of his first season, progress that was continued the following campaign. In the 2003-04 season, the first season under Roman Abramovich's ownership and Frank's third at the club, he retained his place despite many new arrivals and his phenomenal form was only beaten by Thierry Henry when English football's individual awards were handed out. The top performances continued to come in 2004-05, as did the goals, Frank's powerful shooting firing Chelsea to the Premiership title that season as he top-scored from midfield with 13 in the League and 19 overall. There was no one more appropriate to score the two magical goals at Bolton that sealed the championship triumph. The Sportswriters' Footballer of the Year that year and runner-up in the European and World Player of the Year voting for 2005, Frank continued to prove as close to indispensable as can be found in modern football as his team duplicated the Premiership success in 2005-06. When in December 2005, he finally missed a game due to a virus infection, it brought to an end a new Premier League record of 164 consecutive appearances, since surpassed by goalkeeper Brad Friedel. In 2006-07 his 62 games was the highest total by any Chelsea player in a single campaign and although the next year was affected by two rare injuries and bereavement, Frank continued to drive Chelsea on from midfield game after game after game and made it to the now regular 20-goal mark. The injuries were unfortunate but genuine tragedy struck in April 2008 with the death of Frank's mother. His courage and nerve in scoring a vital Champions League semi-final penalty against Liverpool on his return from compassionate leave, followed by his dramatic equaliser in the Final, were among that season's strongest images. Since then Lamps has become Chelsea's top scoring midfield player ever; and is the player to win the most international caps while a Chelsea player. A five-year deal was signed in the summer of 2008, and he quickly got into goalscoring form, netting an audacious chip from the edge of the area at Hull in October that year, an automatic Chelsea Goal of the Season contender though eventually edged out by Michael Essien's Champions League volley against Barcelona. As the performances of those around him began to wane, Frank's form remained consistent under Luiz Felipe Scolari, scoring key goals over Christmas 2008 to keep the team in touch with the league leaders. The arrival of Guus Hiddink midway through the campaign brought extended freedom for Lampard, who repaid his coach with late goals in a league win over Wigan and a 4-4 Champions League thriller against Liverpool, before the Blues eventually bowed out of Europe in controversial circumstances against Barcelona. There was however joy when his second-half strike won the 2009 FA Cup against Everton, his goal celebration a nod to that of his father's in an FA Cup semi-final 29 years earlier. With an incredible 27 goals from central midfield in 2009/10 and a sack-full of assists as Chelsea won the Double, it seemed Frank was improving with age, especially factoring in his resistance to injury and his ability to avoid a single yellow card in the whole of that season. His historic 2009-10 season began as it would end - at Wembley - where he contributed a Community Shield goal, helped set up another, and then buried a penalty in the successful shootout. The 31-year-old actually went 10 games without a goal before four in three arrived in October. After a penalty miss at Man City at the beginning of a difficult Christmas period, it was two successful penalties that dug the team out of trouble against Portsmouth and West Ham. He bounced back from Champions League disappointment against Inter in the first knockout round by banging in four league goals against Aston Villa in a 7-1 rout. The feat, the second time he had achieved such a tally in a game, took him over the 150-goal mark for Chelsea and beyond Roy Bentley to become our third-highest scorer of all time. After converting another penalty against Villa at Wembley to book a place in the FA Cup Final, the focus shifted to league football for the next five games, and it was there where Frank really delivered. In the final league game Frank won and took a penalty to put Carlo Ancelotti's team two goals to the good as we ran riot against Wigan, setting up the Double should we beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final. It was a Drogba free-kick that broke the deadlock that Wembley May day, and even though Frank's final contribution was to drag a penalty wide at the death, he was there in the Royal Box to lift the trophy alongside John Terry. The 2010-11 season was a rare one in the Lampard collection in that it was afflicted with lengthy injury. Recovering from a routine hernia op, he suffered a tendon injury at the top of his leg in training which lengthened the absence to four months during which team form declined. He scored his second goal of the season in the first game of 2011 and still collected 13 goals by the end. On April 6th in a home Champions League game against Manchester United, he become only the fourth player to make 500 appearances for Chelsea. The 2011-12 season featured the sideshow of Lampard slowly but surely edging towards Bobby Tambling's all-time club goalscoring record. It was a vintage Lampard performance at the Reebok, a very happy hunting ground for him and Chelsea, in early October as the midfielder hit a hat-trick. He hit three goals on the spin at the start of 2012 and netted a crucial late penalty against Napoli to level the tie on aggregate, his 14th of the season. As the season drew to a close, Lampard's ability and experience, as so often in the past, rose to the fore. He scored a sublime free-kick in the 5-1 FA Cup semi-final win against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, as well as teeing up Didier Drogba for what proved to be the winning goal in the Final of the same competition. He finished the season by skippering the side for the Champions League Final in Munich in John Terry's absence, and capped a wonderful display by lifting the trophy alongside the suspended captain after scoring the third penalty in the shoot-out. Lampard began the 2012-13 season in typical fashion, scoring the second goal from the penalty spot in the opening-day 2-0 win away at Wigan Athletic, before doing the same three days later against Reading at Stamford Bridge. His first goal of the season from open play came during the 4-1 win against Norwich City when he fired Chelsea into a 2-1 lead from the edge of the penalty area, his 189th goal for the club. Lampard missed a sustained period of the current campaign after picking up a calf injury during the Champions League defeat in Shakhtar Donetsk, before making his return during the 3-1 win at Sunderland in December. After coming on as a substitute in our Club World Cup semi-final against Monterrey, he returned to captain the side for the final defeat against Corinthians. On his 500th appearance for Chelsea, Lampard scored in the 8-0 win against Aston Villa, while his brace in the following game against Everton helped Chelsea to a 2-1 win, taking his Chelsea goal tally to 192, just one behind Kerry Dixon in the Blues all-time goalscorers list. Lampard scored his 199th Chelsea goal in the 4-0 FA Cup victory over Brentford. The goal made him the clubs top scorer in the FA Cup with 26 goals. On 17 March 2013, Lampard scored his 200th goal for the Blues against his former club West Ham. On 11 May 2013, Lampard became the top-scorer in Chelsea's history with 203 goals, beating Bobby Tambling's record by netting a brace in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa. On 3 June 2014, Chelsea confirmed that Lampard's contract would be allowed to expire after 13 years of service. Lampard finished his illustrious Chelsea career with 648 appearances and 211 goals. Honours Chelsea *Premier League: 3 (2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10) *FA Cup: 4 (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012) *League Cup: 2 (2005, 2007) *Community Shield: 2 (2005, 2009) *Champions League: 1 (2012) *Europa League: 1 (2013) Individual *FWA Footballer of the Year: 1 (2005) *UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year: 1 (2008) *PFA Fans Player of the Year: 1 (2005) *Premier League Player of the Decade: 1 (2000-2009) *Premier League Player of the Season: 2 (2004-05, 2005-06) *Chelsea FC Player of the Year: 3 (2004, 2005, 2009) *FA Cup Final Man of the Match: 1 (2007) *England Player of the Year: 2 (2004, 2005) *PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 3 (2004, 2005, 2006) Stats Lampard Lampard Category:Legend